So there’s some good news, and there’s some bad news.
The good news is more Australians than ever before are paying for digital media subscriptions.
But the bad news is women’s interest has fallen to the point where Australia has the widest gender gap in the world.
The ninth annual Digital News Report for Australia surveyed 2025 people between January 10 and February 12.
One in five Australians pay for news, and those who do pay are increasing the number of outlets to which they subscribe.
Australia is one of the top countries in the world for paid news subscriptions.
Consumers said the top reason for subscribing was they gained access to higher quality stories, convenience and a desire to fund good journalism.
Australians also showed strong support for public service media such as the ABC and SBS, with 60 percent of respondents recognising their importance, valuing it more than audiences for similar publicly funded outlets in Canada and the United Kingdom.
General trust in Australian news also grew by two percentage points to 43 percent.
But challenges remain, with the survey finding the global cost-of-living crisis is affecting news consumption—and Australians are wary of algorithms and news personalisation.
There is still a large proportion of Australians who avoid news, and there has been a drop in the overall level of interest.
Almost one in three news avoiders say they are checking news less often or scrolling past it.
The problem is worse with women, whose interest in news has fallen to a record 43 percent, dropping six percentage points from 2022.
The Ukraine war, cost-of-living pressures, interest rate rises, and the federal election were key factors in the drop, and they are less likely than men to find finance and economics news easy to understand.
Gen Z, or those aged 18 to 25, continue to be a challenge for mainstream outlets to reach, and the most popular social media platforms for them to get news from are Instagram or TikTok.
Many people told the survey they wanted positive news, particularly those people who do not pay for news.
Solutions Journalism Network co-founder Tina Rosenberg believes a turnaround could lie in reporting on how to solve the problems that are often the bread and butter of news coverage.
“Solutions journalism can provide a sense of power and hope that positive news can’t,” she said.
“It covers responses to our problems that are systemic, not individual —and therefore, offer real paths forward.
“Solutions journalism is a way to re-engage our communities in the news while telling necessary truths about the world.”
The Digital News Report is part of a long-running international survey coordinated by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University.
The News and Media Research Centre at the University of Canberra is the Australian partner institute.
